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I have litigated divorce, paternity, custody, child support, and Order of Protection cases in Arizona for over three years. My work has largely been funded by a grant for crime victims’ rights. Almost all of the patterns described in this article appeared many times in many cases and do not refer to particular cases or individuals. I have omitted all identifying information and, where necessary, have changed particularizing details to preserve confidentiality.

Learning and Living a New Story for Earth: From Separation to Reciprocity

“Tell me a story.” How often we said that as children! “Tell me a story.” Narrative has the power to shape our world; indeed it is how we understand the world and our place in it. “Tell me a story.”

Some queries to explore: What is the story we tell ourselves about the world and our place in it? How has that shaped our relationship with the world, with the entire community of life? And what have been... Read more.

For a single moment, time collapsed in the Tucson International Airport. Heads turned abruptly. Passersby stopped dead in their hurried tracks. A soul-deep wail erupted from the throat of a sturdy woman with a mighty set of lungs. Haregewoin’s cry shattered the hubbub and echoed off the sterile walls, like thunder. All throughout the terminal, from baggage claim to the Homeland Security screening lines, a haunting stillness presided. Haregewoin’s two children and her husband had just arrived... Read more.

“To put it in the language of Friends, community happens as that of God in you responds to that of God in me.”

– Parker Palmer

Parker Palmer’s affirmation is easy to visualize. But what can we do to foster community? With the presence of the Spirit, one’s testimonies create community. Still, our communities are not perfect. One can encounter gossip. Perhaps in rare cases, gossip is a message from the Spirit. Most often it is self-led rather than... Read more.

The opposite of love isn’t hate; it’s indifference. The opposite of faith isn’t doubt; it’s certainty. Even though “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” (Article 1 of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights), human dignity is not, in fact, universally respected, but is instead routinely trampled under the urgency to build, achieve, instruct, repair, etc. People rarely exercise much patience for actions or attitudes that don’t fit into their own... Read more.

There are plenty of things to be upset about in today’s world. But, as Nancy Hicks Marshall argues in her latest work, The Book of Pro-s: An Alphabetical Chat about Things We Like (that’s pro-, as in the opposite of anti-), there are still plenty of things to like. In alphabetical order, from “accuracy... Read more.